Travis Hudson

Manoi sounds like one of Godzilla's foes, but is actually a 1/5 scale athlete humanoid that looks like a character from a 1960s cartoon. The company behind this specializes in RC cars, and this is an extension of that business. The idea is that you (if you're Japanese) will buy a Manoi and enter it into tournaments run by the company 3 or 4 times a year — like people race RC cars in tournaments. And as with any self-respecting Japanese robot press conference, Manoi performed a little demo for reporters: it walked, stood on one leg, turned and the spot and "posed" in various ways. There isn't much detail on the specs, but it had better be impressive: Manoi goes on sale next May for 150,000 yen ($1,280).